Byrdmouse is a devoted husband and father that says what's on his mind even if no one else agrees with him.

Apr 30 No X in Nixon

As one might expect I spend time teaching my daughters things. Some useful, some useless, some scientific, some religious, some are good habits, some aren't. We talk about words, animals, trees, books, music, movies, and trivia.

On thing I've slowly been building on is the framework of things. An easy example to understand is the framework of a good story, balance leads to conflict, climax, and resolution. How you get there is with antagonists and protagonists. How you tell the story makes the difference. I point out foreshadowings, such as when the soon-to-be-Emperor is hanging on to the soon-to-be-Darth Vader over the seemingly bottomless elevator shaft in Episode III while in Episode VI the full-fledged Vader throws the full-fledged Emperor over the fully bottomless shaft. And of course, I point out metaphors.

I once taught an entire message to the youth of our church on how we can include messages in everything we do, particularly in music. The point of course was how we can include God in everything, as we are directed by the Great Commission. I gave examples of songs with incorrectly assumed messages, as well as unclear messages, then mostly focused on the clearly God-centered messages that are often overlooked. My message was accompanied by a PowerPoint Presentation which in itself had hidden messages, some obvious, some well hidden, one known to only one individual in the room. One example I had wanted to use but didn't was a song entitled Shanty. It has some wonderful sounding lyrics of a lazy day around the house. Until you realize, the singer just wanted to smoke some pot with his significant other. I REALLY wanted to use this, not because of the drug use (which is why I didn't) but because the singer is named Jonathan Edwards, and Dr. T is often using Edwards in his sermons and every time he does I think of the hippy Edwards smoking in the kitchen with the munchies. I wanted someone else to join me in my thoughts and/or understand why I smiled whenever Dr. T mentioned Edwards.

Just this weekend, I was listening to music with my iPhone shuffled and Purple Haze came on. Now, I'm a big Jimi fan. The things he did with a guitar are incredible. I told my oldest daughter to pay attention because one of the most memorable lyrics of Jimi's career was coming up. Then it arrived, she heard it and said, "He's getting high!" then laughed.

I pride myself on looking at things with a different perspective. I live outside the box. Impossible is a synonym for unimaginative in my book. I regularly use symbolism and uncover other symbolism. I also teach symbolism, yet after more than 25 years of listening to and loving it, I never considered that, "Excuse me while I kiss the sky" was a euphemism for one of Jimi's other favorite habits--joining Jonathan Edwards.